Vow And Declare claimed his first win since his memorable 2019 Melbourne Cup triumph, winning Saturday’s group 2 Zipping Classic to break a three-year drought.
Trainer Danny O’Brien described it as a “special win” from a “special horse”, who 12 months ago was on the verge of retirement after a tendon injury prematurely ended his 2021 spring carnival campaign.
But Vow And Declare defied the odds, avoiding any mishaps in his rehabilitation process and returned this spring in the best shape O’Brien has seen him. And after solid runs in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, O’Brien had no hesitation running him again in the $750,000 weight-for-age race.
Vow And Declare has bounced back from a career-threatening injury to the winner’s circle. Credit:Scott Barbour, Racing Photos
“I feel very happy,” O’Brien said.
“He’s always going to be a super special horse for us. That 2019 Melbourne Cup was just a fairytale, he beat off all those international horses, an Australian bred horse winning by a head.
“It’s great to see him put another really good race on his resume.”
But O’Brien said everything had to go right over the past 18 months to see the seven-year-old, ridden by John Allen, find the winner’s stall one more time.
“This time last year after he’d done his tendon in the Naturalism, he was on rehab and any sort of setback in that rehab process and the horse would have been retired,” O’Brien said.
“There was a big chance this time last year he wouldn’t [race again] if anything happened on the way through. But he’s obviously had the rehab and a strong campaign to get him fit for the spring, and even at the start of the spring, he had to turn up and show he could run well again to go on.
“No one wants to see a horse that’s won a Melbourne Cup just turning up. But all his runs this spring have been excellent, he ran with real merit in both Cups, and he’s turned up today and given a pretty emphatic performance in a big weight-for-age group 2 race.”
And O’Brien said there’s no reason he couldn’t run again in 2023.
“He’s had the better part of 18 months off, and he’s never been in better shape, hence the reason he’s here on Zipping Classic day,” he said.
“We’d like to think he’s got a good season in him next year as well.”
Vow And Declare with connections after winning the Zipping Classic. Credit:Vince Caligiuri, Getty
Earlier, Crosshaven won the group 3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes over 1400 metres, his first win in more than two years, handing Norwegian Bliss her first defeat at her eighth career start.
As a juvenile, Crosshaven promised the world, winning a Guineas Prelude and a Carbine Club Stakes, which was split with a fourth-placed finished behind Ole Kirk in the 2020 Guineas.
But he had not won in 15 starts since the Carbine Club Stakes victory, testing the patience of trainers Ben and JD Hayes.
“He’s often threatened and just been narrowly beaten, and the owners have been very patient with us which has been good, and together we’ve got a result like that, well done to his breeder [Daniel Nakhle] in New Zealand and to everyone at home,” Ben Hayes said.
“He was getting frustrating but to win a big race on a day like this is rewarding. We’ll have a good think about [what’s next], his rating is going to go right up now, so we’ll have to look at what’s around, I don’t think there is too much but maybe over Christmas that could be a good race for him.”
John Sargent’s four-year-old mare Gin Martini won the 3200-metre Sandown Cup, while Cindy Alderson’s Jigsaw made it two wins in a row in the Doveton Stakes, to display his rich vein of form.
Later, it was Milford winning the group 3 Eclipse Stakes, while the Sandown Guineas was won by See You In Heaven.
In the stewards’ room, jockey Fred Kerlsey (Holbein) was handed a nine-meeting suspension after pleading guilty to causing interference to Keats in the Eclipse.
